When I was a little kid,
I used to think ships were like magic...
sailing in from strange places, carrying mysterious cargo...
This ship was from the People's Republic of China,
and the cargo was kind of special:
a single treasure literally beyond price.
It'd been on display during the voyage,
and its security had been the responsibility
of the Chinese government.
Now it was going to be ours: Pete Thornton's and mine.
Chu.
I mean, Commissioner Chu.
Don't be inscrutable with me, Peter.
It's good to see you again.
And very good to see you.
I'd like to introduce my friend and colleague, MacGyver.
The honor is mine.
You speak Mandarin.
You just heard about 90% of it.
May I ask what you do for the Phoenix organization?
Well, MacGyver is a kind of, uh, troubleshooter.
I trust we're not expecting trouble.
You know me -- belt and suspenders...
We figured we'd be better off
a little nervous than a lot sorry.
Actually, I'm pleased.
Now, if you'll sign the manifest receiving the item...
Item?
That's some description for a national treasure,
but, uh, on behalf of the International Cultural Exposition...
Uh, maybe...
after we see the dragon?
Troubleshooter and lawyer.
No, just curious to see a legend.
And you shall.
This is the first time it's been outside of China, isn't it?
That's why I'm being very careful.
The Ming Dragon.
China is very proud of it as a work of art...
and part of our history.
It's beautiful.
Hey!
This is a restricted area, miss.
May I ask what you're doing here?
Excuse me. I was invited to a party.
There's no party.
Then let's have one of our own.
Well, hello, little one.
Yes.
Do you have something for me?
Well, Nicolai?
The dragon has arrived.
Security will be handled as we expected?
By the Phoenix Foundation and MacGyver.
I see you remember him...
the time you failed to catch him.
I remember.
Hmm. If it's any consolation to you...
before we leave,
MacGyver will be dead.
The exhibit will be, in this hall under absolute security.
Pettigrew here set it up.
The Ming Dragon will be protected
by this case of shatterproof glass,
cushioned by this pressure plate
and locked into place.
Well, what about alarms?
Embedded in all the glass.
And a laser system... forms a barrier around it all.
Any intruder will be stopped immediately.
What about surveillance cameras, Mr. Pettigrew?
They can be defeated too easily.
Besides, this system is sophisticated,
state of the art.
Your dragon will be safe, Mr. Chu.
Is it truly safe, uh, Mr. MacGyver?
Well, why don't we take a good look at what we have here.
You want to turn on the laser network and dim the lights a little bit?
Oh, certainly. Uh, gentlemen?
Uh, this is Pettigrew, security control.
Lower the house lights
and, uh, activate the laser shield.
There you are.
Now, the guards will be where?
In, uh, central control,
but any intruder will break the beams and set off the alarms.
Well, maybe. Maybe not.
Well, they can't evade the beams. They can't see them.
They can now.
Very imaginative.
See, there's a couple of ways to handle
a light beam alarm system.
You can divert the ray through optic fiber...
use a mirror to deflect it...
but about the easiest thing to do is just, uh... avoid it.
Now, while the guards are kicking back having coffee
or whatever they do,
I've gotten in and no alarm has gone off.
What it comes to is this:
by the time anybody shows up here,
I'll be long gone... with the dragon.
Well...
I just don't know what to say.
Well, don't worry. That's why we're here.
Now we know what to fix.
First, replace that key lock with a combination.
Yeah. And set up regular guard inspections,
say, no more than ten minutes apart.
And, you know, it might not be a bad idea
to wire an alarm into this pressure plate here
where the glass fits, so if anybody does lift it...
We'd have another alarm.
I'll get right on it.
I think I am rather glad you are on the job, Mr. MacGyver.
My pleasure, sir.
I confess of being unsettled.
This, and the-the death of that security guard.
Yeah, I know; that bothers me, too,
but it's being looked into.
So far, there's no evidence to indicate anything but an accident.
The Ming Dragon is our national treasure.
And while it is here, your national responsibility.
If anything were to happen...
the result could be quite serious.
So, you think Pettigrew
will be able to make all those changes
before the opening day after tomorrow?
Yeah, we should have most of it locked down
by tomorrow afternoon's VIP reception.
All except the pressure plate alarm, that is.
That's being shipped out of New York.
- When does that get here? - Sometime tomorrow evening.
It's going to mean an all-night effort to get it installed,
but at least it'll be done for the opening.
By the way, I w...
Are you listening to me?
Yeah, I'm sorry, Pete. I thought I saw somebody.
Well, you said you saw someone. Who?
Well, I thought it was...
Nope, forget it.
A mistake. Come on.
What do you mean, "come on"? The elevators are over here.
I know, but I got a surprise for you over here.
Come on.
"The Great Sheldrake"?
Who's he?
That's the surprise.
And then the announcer's voice says,
"Ladies and gentlemen, presenting your guru into the unknown,
the master of miracles, the Great Sheldrake!"
Applause, applause, applause, alakazam, one, two, three...
hit it!
We have to cut way back on that smoke.
Jack Dalton?!
What's he doing here?
Now, I bring on my lovely assistant, Loretta...
That's you, babe.
Come on. Come on. We open tonight.
Curtsy.
Rise!
Hey, excuse me.
Excuse me. This is a closed rehearsal.
Oh, like the time you tried
to pull a silk scarf out of the principal's ear
and got his toupée instead?
MacGyver! Pete!
Hey, great to see you guys!
What a surprise!
You heard I was appearing, you came to see me. Terrific!
Since when are you a, uh, magician?
When?
I have studied at the feet of Hindu mystics,
climbed the hidden mountains of Tibet
to learn the lost secrets of that unknown kingdom.
I have delved into...
A magic course he got selling magazines in the tenth grade.
A correspondence course.
A mail-order Mandrake, huh?
No. A mail-order Sheldrake.
Come to the opening tonight, and I'll show you
the most magnificent magic act you've ever seen.
Thank you, one and all for joining The Great Sheldrake
on this magic carpet ride into that shadowed land
where reality and illusion intermingle.
A place where the mysteries of time, space,
and the journey of souls
are held in the firm grasp of darkness.
A depth of infinite knowledge, shared with you alone.
And so, until our late, late show, that's it, ladies and gentlemen.
Enjoy the music, have a drink, spend a buck.
Come on, Loretta. You're stepping on my cues.
This is supposed to be magic, not "who's on first?"
- Jack! - Hey.
That's terrific.
You really know how to do this stuff.
Hey, what can I say? It's a gift.
Some of us have it. Thanks for coming.
But enough about me. What are you doing in town?
International Cultural Exposition.
Ah! East meets west.
Great parties!
Oh, they're the worst.
There's one tomorrow at noon, Thursday evening,
dinner on Friday -- I hate it.
- I'll come tomorrow. - Jack...
No, not a word. No groveling gratitude.
Besides, I might make some valuable contacts.
Come on. I'll buy you a carrot juice.
Geez...
What is it?
Lisa.
Mac!
Who'd you see?
Lisa.
Lisa who?
A girl I knew once -- Lisa Kohler.
But she's dead.
At least, I thought she was.
This girl looked exactly like her.
Maybe she's alive.
No. I saw her die.
I killed her.
Okay. Thanks for checking.
Straight ginger ale, but I made it a double.
Anything?
No, she's not registered at the hotel.
They'd never heard the name.
I was wrong.
Okay, but talk to me.
Come on, MacGyver. You wouldn't step on an ant.
What do you mean, "I killed her?"
I did.
I killed her.
Lisa Kohler, two years ago on the Baltic Coast.
She was my contact to an underground resistance group.
All very official, all very proper.
And then it got very personal.
The worst time and the worst place
for falling in love.
But that's exactly what happened.
Even while we were locked into a mission
to blow a secret weapons facility.
I tried to stop Lisa from coming along,
but she insisted.
She argued that it was her information and her job.
The last one, in fact.
I'd arranged to bring her back home with me.
But first, we had to complete the mission
by setting explosives at two separate locations.
It meant we were both at risk.
It meant I worried a lot.
Listen, one last time.
Will you let me handle this?
No.
Your responsibility is the intake pipe.
My job is sealing the exhaust.
Now...
I'll meet you back at the boat in three minutes.
Don't worry.
I feel safe since you gave me this.
I let her go off alone.
I should have gone in with her.
Don't second-guess yourself.
What happened?
The whole plan blew up in my face.
Wait. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
Where's Lisa?
- She's not here yet. Come on. - We are not leaving her behind!
She didn't make it. You know the rules. Let's go!
Wait. There she is!
Lisa!
No!
You didn't kill her.
Jack, I should have gone in alone.
One person alone in that situation has less a chance of fouling up.
Stop it! Stop it!
It's a lousy piece of fate, but you're not responsible.
Come on, Mac. We all have our ghosts.
Yeah, but we don't all see 'em walking by.
She's dead. It's over.
Hey, listen, get a good night's sleep.
I love you, man. I'm glad to see you.
Thanks.
And I'll see you at the party tomorrow, young man.
What are you so tickled about?
You.
You're funny.
Me? What are you talking about funny, no?
You are just funny, that's all.
And I love you, MacGyver.
I love you, too.
Even if you aren't much to look at.
Oh, face, body, eyes, ears, nose, throat --
that's all medium-gorgeous, of course.
But your hand.
It's downright naked.
Let me look at it. It's like the rest of you.
No necklace, no earrings.
Nothing.
You need something.
I have what I need.
Almost.
MacGyver.
"MacGyver, I will be on the 6:45 morning ferry.
Please come to me.
I won't be late this time.
Lisa."
Lisa.
I was shot, yes.
I was hurt badly.
But I lived.
I am alive, MacGyver.
But you never let me know.
Why? What happened?
They sent me to the gulag.
To a prison camp.
There was only one reason I survived.
Nicolai.
Another prisoner?
In a sense.
He had been with the KGB.
There was an incident, a failure, and he was punished.
Sent to the camp, a prisoner... like me.
Then he helped you?
He kept me alive.
He protected me.
Cared for me.
MacGyver...
I married him.
Please understand how it was.
Never a love affair.
Not the way it was with us.
But Nicolai is my husband.
That's why you never got in touch with me.
Yes.
And the reason I've come to you now is...
a very selfish reason.
But I have to tell you
all the truth.
My husband's name
is Nicolai Kosoff.
Kosoff.
Major Nicolai Kosoff?
I know him.
I escaped from him in Hungary.
Yes, I know.
And if you don't want to help us now,
I understand.
MacGyver, we want to defect.
That's quite a story.
Do you believe her?
She wants to defect.
She wants to bring her husband.
And I want to help. Yeah, I believe her.
Lisa, maybe.
Nicolai Kosoff?
Ex-KGB?
Pete Thornton? Ex-DXS?
People change.
Kosoff is here with the Soviet delegation to the Exposition.
He's not KGB.
And maybe not the guy I tangled with in Budapest.
You love her,
so you're buying him, is that it?
I'm giving him a chance, because
if he's playing it straight with us, he deserves it.
If?!
That's a life-and-death if.
You gonna help?
All right, we'll go with your instincts.
I'll slip away in a few minutes and make some arrangements.
But here comes the Russian delegation.
Be charming.
Ah!
General Racoubian!
- Mr. Thornton. - Welcome.
I'd like to introduce my associate, Mr. MacGyver.
General, it's a pleasure.
Ex-general, retired.
Merely a civilian delegate to this exposition.
My colleagues. Major Kosoff.
Mrs. Kosoff.
We met once.
Yes.
And, uh, Miss Lyaschenka.
Jack Dalton.
Nice to meet you.
Outstanding!
General Racoubian,
I hope you enjoy our Ming Dragon.
Extraordinary!
Priceless.
The second most beautiful thing in the room.
Your humble servant, Mademoiselle.
The Great Sheldrake at your service.
Uh, Jack, I don't think this is the time.
Time? The Great Sheldrake performs at 3:00 this afternoon.
You are all invited.
Oh, a magician.
What, with the exposition?
Unofficially.
That's all you need for international friendship, friends.
Magic.
Got to change.
May I show you the rest of the exhibit?
Please?
Lisa tells me you will help us.
And, of course, I know why.
You still love her.
Understandable.
So do I.
I can understand that.
If you will not help me,
I understand.
But please... help Lisa.
Why do you want out?
I was two years in a prison camp.
I learned one thing, MacGyver...
to cherish freedom...
for myself...
for my Lisa.
How'd you get her out of the camp?
I destroyed her records,
forged new ones.
I hid her past.
And we were lucky.
My God, we were lucky.
This new government, glasnost, openness.
And for this little moment,
the ice melts, and we get out.
But if they ever discover who she really was...
Lisa goes back,
and I would be shot.
I don't...
enjoy begging, MacGyver,
but for Lisa, I will.
You think you could talk your little group into going to see
The Great Sheldrake's magic show?
I suppose so.
But why?
I can't think of a better place to pull off a disappearing act.
Welcome to the universe
of infinite improbability!
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Great Sheldrake!
Greetings from beyond the mystic veil,
where nothing is what it seems.
You know, friends,
I come from a long line of magicians.
My father used to walk down the street and turn into a saloon.
Thank you.
Tonight I shall be guiding you
through the eerie entryway to another universe.
For my first feat of wonder,
I shall require a volunteer.
Preferably someone young,
and beautiful.
Ah!
You certainly qualify.
And so do you.
Will you both yield yourselves
to the magical powers of the Great Sheldrake?!
I don't know.
Go ahead, Lisa.
Both of you, go ahead.
Wonderful, wonderful. Here they come.
Now, ladies, as you join me on the stage,
I want you to examine this common, ordinary box.
Search it.
Inspect it.
Examine it.
Be sure that it's empty.
An empty box.
But also, the gateway
to another dimension.
To the world of illusion.
Prepare yourself for a wondrous experience.
Don't be frightened, you're perfectly safe.
And now friends, beyond gravity,
beyond reality,
beyond belief!
Rise!
Take this instrument of the unknown
and become the keeper of the gate.
Hold the wand for all to see,
and with the power I give unto you,
open the portals,
guide her beautiful soul
to the freedom of another dimension!
Fantastic!
Thank you.
Thank you, thank you.
- Where is she? - She's okay.
Where is she?
Out of the way, fool!
Hey, blondie, your table's out front.
I'll go find Lisa
before Tanya creates an incident.
...but don't be alarmed, my friends, be patient.
The beautiful young lady who vanished
shall return when the configurations are aligned,
when the planets move once again in their appointed paths.
Lead her back sagely now, oh, gods of the unknown.
Protect her on her journey...
And while we're waiting for her to return, ladies and gentlemen,
for my next feat of magic, I need another volunteer.
A small volunteer.
MacGyver! Lisa!
Nicolai!
Get Lisa free!
Get her away!
Come on, let's go.
- Come on! - No!
No!
Put him in there!
Get out the van!
To the helicopter pad.
Quickly!
- Hang on! - MacGyver!
There they are.
Go down the next street.
Look out!
No!
Where are we going?
We'll try to lose them on the docks.
Turn right, turn right!
What are we doing?
Just hang on tight.
I can't believe it.
- We lost them! - No.
We have them.
Give me the phone.
General, we will be needing just the smallest assistance.
They are trapped on the ferry, heading for North Island.
If you will come in the helicopter,
we will drive over the bridge.
Here you go.
Thank you.
You okay?
Lisa, we're okay.
You're safe, we made it.
But not Nicolai.
- First, I lose you, and now... - Hey, wait a minute, stop it.
Stop right there.
You haven't lost anything yet.
As soon as we get to shore, I'll contact Pete.
He's lined up all the help we could possibly need.
We'll get Nicolai out.
I don't think they're ready to start World War III
within city limits.
That's General Racoubian's helicopter.
I think we're lost.
Hey, Pete!
Thank you very much.
So what happened? Where are they?
Nothing happened.
It went smooth as silk.
That big, beautiful Russian fire alarm jumped my bones
and they split out the back door.
Well, they never showed at home base.
What do you mean, they never showed?
Mac had it locked, everything was on course.
A dozen witnesses just told me they rolled out of here
at 80 miles an hour on a stolen motorcycle.
You sure about that?
Well, I just paid for the motorcycle.
Well, then, where are they?
Tanya, the ferry has docked,
but they're still aboard.
Message received, sir.
I'm tracking them now. Where are you?
Crossing the bridge, general.
We will be on North Island within minutes.
We are only a few miles away.
Good, the plan is to keep them between us.
When they move, I'll drive them toward you.
What do you think?
I don't think we should stick around.
They're moving now.
Just leaving the ferry, stand by.
Understood.
They're heading in your direction,
on the coast road.
Go west along the waterfront.
You'll head them off.
It'll all be over in a few minutes.
Turning on the coast road now.
Tanya, we're directly over them now,
and you should be seeing us soon.
There's nobody in sight.
We can begin to isolate them.
I read you, general.
Good.
Don't shoot!
Get them off the road.
I don't want any interference.
General, I have you in sight.
Why are we slowing down?
We're running out of gas.
They're turning off into the woods!
Stay with them.
Don't lose them. I can see you both.
I'm right above you.
Tanya, I'm turning them back toward you.
We have them now.
That's it. Keep calm.
Wait, wait! They're going to the river!
End of the line. She's empty.
Come on...
Come on, let's go.
They're heading for the boat.
We see them, general.
Wait!
Forget the boat!
We are trapped!
Not yet.
Come on!
Get on!
Where are they?
Have to be this way.
Get ready.
Come on. Jump.
Come on, we'll grab the van.
Well, we've certainly done the town, haven't we?
Yep.
And probably attracted a little attention along the way, general.
Now, I could be wrong, but I'd be willing to bet
that your government doesn't want an incident here.
And there won't be one.
I may be a little irritated with you, MacGyver,
but admiring.
As for you and Major Kosoff --
you took a chance; you'll pay the price.
He's going to kill us.
I'm sorry I brought you into this.
Come on, general, let's see if we can deal.
Call in a little glasnost, you and me.
I like you, MacGyver, but I can't let them go.
As for glasnost, I don't agree
with the current Soviet administration --
this new openness.
Weak, foolish... impractical.
And you think killing three people's more practical?
That's amazing.
Okay, general, what's it gonna take?
What's the price?
You know what trade I deal in.
What could you possibly offer me?
I know you won't betray your country's security.
You got that straight.
Maybe there is something.
So there is no misunderstanding...
Jewelry?
It's not jewelry.
But it's a work of art, and beauty.
This device is armed.
When I push this button,
any unauthorized attempt to open the necklace,
once it's shut, will cause it to trigger.
Armed for what?
Good question.
This second button transmits a signal
good for at least five miles.
You are a hostage.
So is Nicolai.
What price for freedom, you ask?
The Ming Dragon.
Deliver it to me.
You want me to steal it?
Yes.
That's impossible.
Nothing's impossible.
Consider the alternative.
She has until 2:00 tomorrow.
If you attempt to rescue her or if she tries to escape --
if you try to do anything but get me the Dragon...
You got a deal.
Good. Bring her.
Go fetch, MacGyver.